Gemma Teller Morrow
'Gemma Teller Morrow (1957-2014) '''was the mother of Jackson 'Jax' Teller, widow of John Teller and Clarence 'Clay' Morrow, grandmother of Abel Teller and Thomas Teller II. Gemma was the strongest supporter of SAMCRO, personally involving herself with club matters to secure the club's future. Gemma prioritized her family over everything else, but only to her own satisfaction and demands, and would do whatever it takes to get her way. Gemma is a classic Narcissist. Initially depicted as a main protagonist along with Jax, both before and throughout the entire series, actions and decisions that Gemma have made depict her as the primary antagonist of the entire series, as all of the club's problems can be traced back to Gemma. Gemma is the second character along with Jax to appear in every episode (although she only appeared as a corpse in the series finale). Biography Gemma was born in Oregon in 1957 and is a resident of Charming, California, after her father, Rev. Madock accepted a position in Charming United Church. She met John Teller, a Vietnam War veteran and founder of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, in 1978, after leaving home in 1975. Two months after meeting JT Teller, she became pregnant. She had two children: Jackson 'Jax' Teller born in 1978 and Thomas Teller born in 1984. Gemma has a genetic heart disorder which she passed on to her children, from which Thomas died in 1990. John was hit by a semi-truck and died in 1993. Gemma married John's friend Clay Morrow, after carrying on an open affair with him for quite some time. She is of Irish (father) and Russian Jewish (mother) descent. From the time she left Charming in 1975 until she met JT Teller, she became best friends with Luann, who was involved in the porn industry. It is not revealed whether Gemma was involved in porn herself. She supports Luann strongly. Luann was her Maid of Honor at her wedding to JT in 1978. She lives in the same house she shared with John, at 5024 Sandy Creek Rd. in Charming. Season One Gemma Teller Morrow is the queen of Charming (a town in Northern CA that's supposed to be between Lodi and Stockton) and the matriarch of the Sons of Anarchy. A Machiavellian schemer and expert in psychological manipulation, Gemma is extremely protective of her son and grandsons. She longs for the day when Jax will, in her eyes, be ready to assume control of SAMCRO, ensuring the organization's survival for another generation. She adores her husband, Clay, and does her best to make things work out in his favor. Many of SAMCRO's plans succeed because of Gemma's quiet intervention, such as finding out who raped Elliott Oswald's young daughter at the carnival in episode "Fun Town" and surveillance of L.O.A.N. She generally has a hostile attitude toward all of Jax's female friends and partners, including his ex-wife Wendy Case; his on-again, off-again girlfriend Tara Knowles; and the club "groupies" with whom he occasionally has sex. Recently, she has taken Tara under her wing. Her tough but relatively classy image includes hair highlights and a crow tattoo on her left breast. Nords boss Ernest Darby has indicated that he had a prior romantic interest in her. Season Two Gemma is attacked and sexually assaulted early in season two by SAMCRO's rival AJ Weston and two unknown men wearing white masks. During the assault, Gemma is told to tell Clay that it would happen again if he does not end his dealings with minorities. Later, Gemma realizes that Weston was one of her attackers when she recognizes his tattoos. When Chief Unser finds her at the scene of the attack, Gemma demands that he cannot tell Clay or Jax about the attack, destroying Weston and Zobelle's plans to get Clay and/or Jax to do something rash. Unser complies and further covers up the source of Gemma's injuries by crashing her car into a road divider and taking her to the hospital. The only other person Gemma confides in about the rape is Tara Knowles, Jax's girlfriend. Unser later realizes that Chief Deputy Hale is starting to become more involved with Zobelle and his people, so he tells Hale about Gemma's assault. This causes Hale to re-evaluate his dealing with Zobelle. The attack leaves Gemma with significant emotional trauma, which causes problems in her marriage with Clay. She also feels somewhat paranoid that Weston would try to attack her again. Her paranoia is further compounded when someone from L.O.A.N. mails one of the rapist's white masks to her. When Gemma learns of Jax's plans to become a "nomad," she tells him she knows about the book her first husband, Jax's father, John Teller, wrote. She tells Jax that she believes John's death may not have been an accident, but rather a suicide. After asking Jax to reconsider his decision, she implores him to read a certain page in John's book, hoping it will give him guidance and perhaps change his mind. The book fails to make Jax decide to stay and when the vote needed to allow him to leave is taken, it passes. Upon learning that Jax still plans to become a nomad, Gemma calls together her son, Tara, and Clay at her home and reveals the graphic details of her assault and gang rape. As a result, Jax picks up the jacket patches he had removed from his vest after the vote, indicating Jax has decided to stay with SAMCRO. The following morning, feeling unwanted by Clay, Gemma comes on to an emotionally wrecked Tig who reciprocates her advances but stops when he sees a picture of Clay. Later, Tig is guilt-ridden and proceeds to confess to Opie about Donna's murder. Then, outside the church that Unser goes to for his support group, Gemma is approached by the priest who runs the support group and offers her advice to serve others to deal with her own self-loathing. Back at the garage, she runs into Chibs, who is distraught by his dealings with ATF agent Stahl. She comforts him and advises him to come clean with the club. After the club meeting, Tig tells Clay that Gemma thinks he does not want her anymore. Clay proceeds to the office and shows her that he still wants her. When the club goes on lockdown, Gemma looks after other families. She tells Tara that she does not have to take crap from anyone, because she is the old lady of the Vice President. Inspired by Gemma, Tara stands up to her supervisor at the hospital, assaulting her when she calls Gemma a whore. In the second season finale, Gemma sees Polly Zobelle. Wanting to get revenge and also do her part for SAMCRO, she follows Polly to Edmond Hayes' house. She sends Tara home and sneaks onto the property where she finds a distraught Polly brandishing a gun. Polly attempts to shoot, prompting Gemma to kill her in self-defense. She then discovers Edmond Hayes' body and ATF Agent Stahl, saying that both of them had a bloody day. Stahl offers to let her leave, but not before tossing her sidearm to Gemma. Who recognizes Stahl's trick to get her fingerprints on the murder weapon and flees. At a bus stop pay phone she calls Chief Unser for help. She is last seen fleeing Charming with Unser with no idea of where to go. Season Three Gemma was still on the run at the beginning of Season 3. She was being kept at a motel by Tig until Clay and SAMCRO can figure out a way to clear her name. Clay elected not to tell Gemma that Abel was kidnapped because he believes she already has enough to worry about. While at the motel, Gemma reads in a newspaper and learns about her mothers death, she tries to steal a car and is caught and saved by Tig and later she is able to convince Tig to help her sneak away. They end up at the house of her father, a reverend who is suffering from late stage Alzheimer's disease. After an incident involving Tig and the Guatemalan caretaker Amelia Dominguez, that resulted in Tig being shot, Gemma requested Tara's assistance. After the caretaker discovered that Gemma was wanted and that there was a hefty reward for her capture, Gemma tied her up in the basement of her father's home . Shortly after that Amelia escaped by overpowering Tara. Amelia then attempts to overpower Gemma but is accidentally killed in struggle with Gemma and Tara. Soon Gemma makes the hard decision to move her father into an assisted living home. Gemma then broke down, escaped in Tara's car, and contacted Agent Stahl. Tara informed the club that Gemma disappeared and Clay realized that she was heading home to be with Abel. However, upon returning home, Gemma discovered that Abel had been kidnapped. This aggravated her heart condition and she ended up in the hospital. Gemma had made a deal to turn herself in to Stahl upon her return to Charming in exchange for not receiving the death penalty for the murders of Edmond Hayes and Polly Zobelle. However, Stahl reneged on the deal, informing Gemma that because she did not turn herself in at the agreed upon time (because she was in the hospital), Gemma had violated the terms of the deal. Later, Jax secretly worked out a deal with Stahl where he would give Stahl information on the IRA and get her back in the good graces of the ATF in exchange for help with his mother (Stahl had been demoted off the IRA case following the events at the end of season 2). Stahl then supplied Jax with a statement for Gemma to give to the ATF, in which Gemma stated the real events of the Hayes and Zobelle shooting, except that Gemma fingered another ATF agent for the Edmund Hayes shooting. In "Widening Gyre", Gemma finds out that John Teller had an affair in Belfast in the late 1980s, which produced a daughter. She makes up her mind to go to Belfast with Clay and Jax and she employs Tara's help in breaking out of police custody. After a tense standoff with Wayne Unser, Gemma successfully makes it to the airport with SAMCRO. Once she and SAMCRO arrive in Belfast the Sons are in danger of being deported to America. Gemma forces a SAMBEL member to run the police off the road. After they release SAMCRO from police custody they head to the SAMBEL clubhouse, where Gemma meets Maureen and Trinity Ashby. Gemma and Maureen talk later and Maureen tells Gemma they should continue to keep the secret about John being Trinity's real father. Gemma may still tell Jax, because she may have noticed a connection between them. Gemma decided to tell Jax that Trinity was his sister after finding them in a compromising position. The next day Gemma, Jax, and Opie go to the orphanage to get Abel. When they get there they under orders of Father Ashby, try to keep them from taking Abel home by lying about knowing where Abel is. Gemma sees right through this and takes a baby hostage and threatened to kill her. When they finally tell them where Abel is Gemma gives the baby back and Jax goes off to find him. When Jax comes back without Abel he tells his mother that neither he nor Abel belong there and Abel belongs with the other family. Gemma, enraged that Jax is willing to give up his own son, tells him that Tara is pregnant. When Father Ashby shows up it is revealed that Sean Casey was tortured and the priest tells them that Jimmy is now after Abel. Everyone including Gemma try to get to the hotel to save Abel only to find that they are too late. After a deal is made between Jimmy and the True IRA, Abel returns home with his true family. Once back in Charming the club is trying to find Tara and Gemma is struggling with the deal Jax made with Stahl. Gemma knows that it does not matter how much the rest of the club loves him, if they find out he ratted they will kill him without hesitation. Jax is still confident that nothing will go wrong and promises her that everything and everyone will be alright. Gemma, still afraid, decides to force Stahl to kill the deal at gun-point. Gemma tells Stahl if she didn't end the deal she would turn herself in and tell where the previous statement really came from. She later greets Tara and hugs her for her safe return from Salazar. In the season 3 finale, Gemma is still worried about the deal Jax made with Stahl. When she sees that the deal is still on and that Jax is giving up the head of the IRA, she tries to turn herself, only to find out that it is too late because Stahl already gave her statement clearing her of the killings. Gemma warns Stahl that someone will get hurt. When Clay comes to see her in jail she tells him that they can't look at Jax the same way the saw John Teller, because club has been in desperate times. At the end she sees Jax arrive with Stahl. She watches with sadness as Stahl sets up Jax to die at the hands of his own club by exposing the deal the y made. But Gemma gets some relief after Jax sends her a letter explaining that he was never a rat and that the deal was a trap the entire club was in on and the only reason they didn't tell her was to keep her from being an accessory if things didn't go as planned. At the end it is intensely hinted that Gemma and Clay are responsible for John Teller's death through a letter from Teller to his mistress Maureen Ashby. Season Four At the beginning of season four we see Gemma is continuing her duties as the Queen of SAMCRO. She is one of the first people, along with Tara, to welcome home the members of SAMCRO who had been in prison for fourteen months. She later visits Unser who has sold his business and moved into a trailer in the woods. After she and Clay have sex to properly welcome him home she tells him that Unser needs him and the club to go on living. Gemma later attends Opie's wedding. After the wedding she goes to Jax's house to check on the boys and she finds a note that suggest Maureen Ashby gave John Teller's letter to Jax to read. The next day she tells Clay about what she found and he tells her not to worry about it. Later she discovers that Jax hadn't read them, but Tara has. She tells Tara that the letters will only hurt their family. But more piles on when Piney tells her about wanting the club to mule drugs. When she confronts Clay and tries to order him not to do it, he makes her know that she is not the boss of him. When the club goes to Tucson for the drug run, she confronts Piney about his beef with Clay and tells him to let it go before he gets himself killed, but he won't back down. In the next episode Clay tells Gemma about the confrontation with Piney were Piney tells Clay he knows the truth about John Teller's death. She not only worries about the truth coming out, but also about Clay when he suggests killing Tara and Piney as they are they only other two people who know the truth. She talks him out of it. She later goes to Unser who she tells to get the letters as he too was involved in the murder of John by helping cover it up. Later she goes to get the letters and discovers that Unser burned them. She shows the ashes to Clay unaware that he read them. Later in the Season Gemma discovers Piney's dead body and immediately knows it was Clay who killed him. She learns from Unser that Clay not only read the letters, but the ones he read were actually copies meaning Tara still has the originals. Unser wants to turn Clay in, but Gemma convinces him otherwise. Later she and Clay talk about the situation and she tells him that they will simply add Piney's death to their list of secrets and she will convince Tara to give her the letters. She makes Clay promise her that he will not hurt Tara. The next day Gemma sees Clay take money out of their safe and hours later someone tries to kidnap Tara. When Gemma confronts Clay they end up fighting leaving Gemma badly beaten. Afterwards Gemma realizes that Clay is beyond salvation and he has to die at the hand of the son. The next day she learns that Jax and Tara are planning to leave SAMCRO and Charming. She also discovers that Wendy has returned and wants to be apart of Abel's life and confronts her. When Unser tells Opie what happened to Piney in order to get Opie to kill Clay she tells him to try to stop it, because she wants Jax to do it. Unser was unable to stop it and Clay ends up shot by Opie, but he survived. Gemma then convinces Tara to give her the letters. Once she has them she takes out the ones that implicate her and Unser and gives the rest to Jax. She tells Jax everything that Clay has done and then tells Jax to kill Clay and take his place at the head of the table as the President of SAMCRO. While Jax is reading the letters, Gemma and Tara talk and Tara tells her that she knew about Gemma's plan to keep them in Charming. When Jax comes out after reading the letters Tara gives Jax a way to kill Clay and tells him that once it is done to come take her and their sons out of Charming, and he promises that he will. Gemma is forced to watch her plan to have Jax become the next president fall apart. When she asks what Tara is doing, Tara tells her everything Gemma taught her. Tara then tells Gemma that Jax is hers. The same day Gemma sees Jax in the hospital coming out of Clay's room and tries to beg him to stay and Jax tells her that he is not leaving and that Clay won't hurt her again. When she goes into the room she sees that Clay is still alive. Later, Gemma burns the letters that implicate her role in John's death and when the men are having church she sees Jax at the head of the table and Tara standing behind him. Season Five Gemma is now very independent from Clay as she is seen having sex with Nero Padilla in the very first scene, but it was later revealed that she had been consuming a great deal of alcohol and drugs, did not recall a thing from the previous night, tried to shoot Nero upon waking and had even given him a fake name, Rose (which was her mother's name.) Later they officially introduce each other and she gives him her phone number. Once she arrives at her home she catches Clay digging through her belongings, claiming to be looking for a ring, then he asks for a moment of Gemma's time and after hearing him out, he tries to touch her and she drops him to the floor warning that he will never lay a hand on her again. She later organizes for SAMCRO to stay at Nero's day spa while they hide from the law in order to stop them from being alone and unprotected in prison, much against Tara's wishes, despite both Gemma and Jax explaining that if they were to go to prison they would most likely be attacked, if not killed. Season Six ''Under construction. Season Seven "I'm the only thing keeping this family together." - Gemma to Juice, on the state of her family. Under construction. Murders Committed *Polly Zobelle - Shot. ("Na Trioblóidí") *Amelia Dominguez - Accidentally stabbed. ("Caregiver") *Tara Knowles - Repeatedly stabbed in the head. ("A Mother's Work") * All deaths in SAMCRO-Lin Triad War (caused) * All deaths in SAMCRO-August Marks War (caused) Trivia *Gemma appeared in all episodes of the series, although in the finale, Papa's Goods, she only appeared as a corpse. *Gemma, Unser, Piney, Bobby and Opie are the only main characters to appear as corpses in episodes after their deaths *Gemma is the ninth main character to die in the series, being the last of three to die in Red Rose. *Gemma has one of the lowest direct kill counts of the main characters of the series, despite her duration in the series. However, she is responsible for many of the deaths in the show. *The only characters Gemma has killed directly were female. *Gemma is often referred to as the "queen" or "matriarch" of SAMCRO. *When describing the role of Gemma, Katey Sagal stated that Gemma was unlike any other character she has portrayed. *Katey Sagal is the wife of series creator Kurt Sutter. The two only shared one scene in the entire series, when Gemma visited Otto in prison after Otto learned of Bobby's affair with his wife Luanne. *Gemma is responsible for the direction SAMCRO has taken, leading to much conflict and death in the show. **Gemma approves of Clay's plan to kill John Teller. After John is killed, Clay solidifies SAMCRO's connection to gun-running. Gemma has no qualms with her only son becoming a criminal. **Gemma learns of Jax's discovery of John Teller's manuscript. Fearing that the "ghost" of his dead father would change Jax, Gemma ordered Clay to push Jax harder and keep him close. This only created tension between Clay and Jax after Donna Winston's murder. **Gemma's cover-up of her rape by AJ Weston gives the League time to damage SAMCRO, had Gemma revealed what had happened earlier, SAMCRO would have destroyed the League sooner. **Gemma followed Polly Zobelle to the home of Edmond Hayes, gunning her down in self-defense. ATF Agent June Stahl, who had been present in the home and had murdered Edmond, framed Gemma for the double-homicide. ***Cameron Hayes, having overheard Stahl's radio broadcast, followed Half-Sack to Jax's home, where Tara had been heading to at Gemma's request. Hayes murders Half-Sack and kidnaps infant Abel Teller, setting in-motion the events of Season Three. **During SAMCRO's time in Ireland, Maureen Ashby planted John Teller's letters in Jax's bag. The letters contained the truth behind John Teller's death and why SAMCRO truly went criminal. Tara had discovered the letters and kept them a secret. Gemma found evidence of the letters and told Clay. ***Because of this, Clay's paranoia and obsession with his end-game, Clay was willing to do whatever it took to find the letters and destroy them to prevent Jax from knowing the truth. ****Clay murdered Piney Winston, Piney had been threatening Clay with the letters in order to get Clay to end business with the Galindo Cartel. ****Clay paid Romeo to place a hit on Tara. ****Clay brutally beat Gemma after she learned that Clay tried to have Tara killed. ***Gemma had Wayne Unser cover up Piney's murder, but Piney's body was discovered by Opie Winston. Unser revealed a version of the truth, and placed the blame on Clay. Gemma had earlier told Wayne that Clay would die by the "hands of a Son". ****Opie failed in his attempted assassination of Clay with Jax's intervention. Clay ordered Jax to lie about the attack and place blame on the Niners. Tig attempts to kill Laroy Wayne in retaliation, but accidentally kills gangster Damon Pope's daughter Veronica instead. Pope and the Niners then go to war with SAMCRO. *****Because of this conflict, Pope orders Jax to have a member of SAMCRO killed. In prison, Jax, Opie, Chibs, and Tig were isolated and told to come up with a volunteer. Pope wanted Tig alive for now, and to prevent Jax or Chibs from being killed, Opie sacrificed himself. **Gemma's lack of responsibility after Jax showed mercy to Clay led Gemma to abuse drugs and party freely. While Gemma was recovering from this, she got high before babysitting Abel and Thomas. This results in a car accident, with Abel receiving minor wounds. This solidifies Tara's distrust of Gemma, and seeks to shut Gemma out of the lives of her children. **Believing that Tara had ratted on Jax, Gemma waited for her at Jax and Tara's house. When they were alone, Gemma brutally attacked Tara, attempting to drown her, and stabbing her in the back of the head with a carving fork, ending Tara's life in a bloody mess. ***Eli Roosevelt, who had been tasked with escorting Tara, discovered the scene inside. Before he could report the murder, Eli was shot from behind by Juice. Juice, about to be excommunicated from SAMCRO and possibly killed, covered up the murder and went on the run. ***Gemma placed the responsibility of Tara's murder on the Lin Triads, as the Triads and SAMCRO had been feuding. ****Gemma identifies Triads member Chris Dun as one of the men who killed Tara. Jax had the Grim Bastards abduct him, taking him to the kitchen of Jax's home, where Tara had been murdered. Jax then tortured Chris, and ended his life by impaling him with a carving fork in the back of the head. ****SAMCRO actively goes to war against the Lin Triads. *****SAMCRO and the Indian Hills charter assault a Chinese exchange, killing everyone present. SAMCRO then steals the heroine the Chinese were transporting. ******Jax, Chibs, and Bobby frame two Indian Hills associates as having committed the attack. The bodies were discovered by Indian Hills President Jury White, one of which was his son, Gibby. *******Jax believed that Jury had ratted on the club after the Chinese retaliated against SAMCRO. Jury stated that he was not a rat, and went on to insult Jax, calling him the "poison" that was killing the Sons of Anarchy. Enraged, Jax punched Jury and shot him in the face. ********Indian Hills then initiated an investigation onto Jax, questioning his leadership and the actions of SAMCRO. *****Henry Lin discovers that the Sons of Anarchy were behind the assault on his exchange. The Triads retaliate by bombing SAMCRO's new clubhouse, and executing everyone present at Diosa, including Collette. ******Jax and Chibs, with Nero's help, convince Henry that August Marks was behind the attack, and that SAMCRO was under his control. Lin takes Jax and Chibs with him to set a met with the Mayans and Niners to rebel against Marks, but it was revealed as a trap. Police Officers under Charlie Barosky's payroll pulled the Chinese over, Jax brutally beats Henry before more cops arrive on the scene, arresting the Triad members present for possession of heroine and illegal weapons. ******SAMCRO assaults Triad members, and with Henry Lin imprisoned with no chance of getting out legally, the Lin Triads were disbanded. *****August Marks had ordered Jax not to retaliate against whoever was responsible for the murder of Tara. August had sensitive business at risk by any gang violence, and that SAMCRO could not interfere. ******Jax went behind August anyway, and started the war with the Chinese. After the assault on the Chinese exchange, August confronted Jax. Jax claimed that SAMCRO had nothing to do with it. August then warned Jax that he had no problem killing him or any of the other Sons. ******SAMCRO began to plot against Marks, as Jax had predicted that they would have warred with August eventually. Jax secured Tyler and Niner's alliance, after SAMCRO eliminated a rebel group in the Niners. Jax also got the backing of Marcus Alvarez and the Mayans against August. ******August retaliated against this treason by having Bobby Munson kidnapped by his head of security, Moses Cartwright. Moses tortured Bobby, first removing his right eye and delivering it to SAMCRO in a package along with a video of the torture. *******Moses threatened Abel and Thomas, breaking into Gemma's home and writing a warning on the wall of the children's room. Gemma's pet African Crows were torn apart on Gemma's bed. ********Jax relented, and had Tyler deliver a message that Jax would hand over his leverage against Marks, but would not allow Marks to kill Grant and his mother. Moses retaliated with another message, as the conditions were not negotiable, and delivered another package to SAMCRO, this time with Bobby's index fingers from his left hand, robbing Bobby of his ability to operate a motorcycle. *********Jax gave in to August's demands, and apologized to August for his actions against the Chinese and Marks. At the exchange, Jax handed over the leverage of Jonathan Haddam's body, video evidence of pedophilia, and Grant. Moses then brought out Bobby, who was gagged with a broken jaw. Alone, August pulled a gun from Bobby's waist, threatening Jax and Grant with what would happen to them if they ever betrayed August again. August then shot Bobby in the head, killing him instantly, and devastating Jax. **Ultimately, Gemma's lies lead to her own death at the end of Red Rose, after Abel exposes her hand in Tara's murder to Jax in the previous episode. She ends up getting killed by her own son with a single shot to the back of the head. **After receiving her own consequences, Jax is forced to face the ones she has created for him. Jax's confession to murdering Jury after finding out the truth about Tara's death results in a Mayhem Vote, and the series ends with him steering his Harley into an on-coming truck, dying in the same manner as his father, and both indirectly at the hands of Gemma. 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